A Year 5 class at Knox Prep School in Wahroonga has won the equivalent of a national gold medal, placing first in the World Education Games in its age group out of 55,000 Australian schools.

Knox Prep’s ‘5G’ class, taught by Ms Katrina Gledhill, placed first in all divisions (spelling, maths and science) of the competition, which took place earlier this month.

The students competed in live head-to-head competitions against other students from around the world on their laptops. More than 5.9 million students from 200 countries competed in the UNICEF competition.

The class ranked 2nd in the world in literacy, 32nd in maths and 8th in science. Last year a Knox Prep Year 5 class also won 1st place overall in its age group.

On Tuesday Ms Gledhill and two students from the class, Oskar Loofs and Nicholas Browne, attended an official presentation at Sydney Opera House and received a certificate from The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, Minister for Early Childhood and Youth, in recognition of 5G’s achievement.

“The games are a great way to make education more fun for the boys,” said Ms Gledhill. “I think they often get caught up in the excitement of it and forget they’re actually learning!”